Abidjan-Ouagadougou Railway Rehabilitation

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The project entails the rehabilitation of 853 kilometers of rail tracks connecting Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire. The work involves rail replacement, upgrades of safety systems and renovation of stations, bridges, acquisition of locomotives and cars, and maintenance workshops. The project comes as a result of the newly revised concession awarded by the Governments of Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire to Sitarail, a subsidiary of Bollore Group. Sitarail has been operating the railway for 23 years. In terms of ownership, Sitarail, on behalf of Bollore, holds 67% in the concession contract, with the governments of the two countries each holding 15%. The remaining 3% in the contract is owned by railway staff. Since this is a rehabilitation project launched within the existing concession of Sitarail, no new concession was signed between the parties but only revised. The right to implement the renovation works was granted following a direct negotiation between the partners. Sitarail will recoup its investment in the project by collecting user fees over the time of the concession period. As neither Bollore, nor the authorities have announced debt financing for the project we assume that it will be all equity finance deal. The total investment in the project amounts to CFA 260 billion (nearly 400 million EUR or $471.3 million). As majority owner, Bollore will contribute $315.77 million of the total investment. Financial closure was achieved as per the initiation of works on the railway in December 2017. https://www.bollore-transport-logistics.com/en/media/news/sitarail-starts-modernization-work-on-the-railroad-between-cote-divoire-and-burkina-faso.html http://geopolis.francetvinfo.fr/la-renovation-de-la-ligne-abidjan-ouagadougou-de-nouveau-sur-les-rails-150459 https://www.bollore-transport-logistics.com/medias/communiques-de-presse/convention-de-concession-revisee-sitarail-et-les-gouvernements-de-cote-divoire-et-du-burkina-faso-signent-un-accord.html https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ivorycoast-burkina-railways/ivory-coast-burkina-faso-pave-way-for-sitarail-upgrade-idUSKBN1A41W9 https://www.railjournal.com/index.php/africa/sitarail-to-upgrade-abidjan-kaya-railway.html As of March 2018, no debt financing has been reported, thus for the purpose of this database we assume that the project is 100% equity funded by the three sponsors (including Governments of Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire)